Roadmaps and Detours
by Kitsune Moonstar
Summary: Ashley and Andros reflect on their lives as they travel from one place to another over the years


Author's Note: I do not own Power Rangers or its characters.

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**Roadmaps and Detours**

KO-35 to Earth

The trip back to Earth was mostly spent napping by about half of the Rangers. Ashley supposed that wasn't surprising. They had pretty much been going nonstop lately, and rest had been hard to come by. And given that they would have quite a bit of work ahead of them on Earth as well, catching up on sleep was probably sensible. But she wasn't joining Carlos, T.J., and Cassie in their naps. She had too much on her mind to sleep, and besides, she was enjoying the company.

Zhane had dragged the four of them who were still awake off to the observation deck. The view was amazing, even at hyperrush. They had easily settled into a comfortable silence, and Ashley couldn't help but reflect on the fact that even when they'd first met Andros, she would have never expected this. She'd known from the start that there was more to Andros than the aloof loner façade he'd first presented, but if you had told her that after the battles were won she would be spending her free time with Andros, a formerly comatose ranger, and Astronema, Ashley would have called you crazy.

"So what happens next?" Karone asked softly.

Andros looked over at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we help rebuild Earth. Then what? What do we do afterwards?"

Ashley lifted her head off Andros' shoulder. "It's a good question. I mean things changed. Earth knows its not alone now. That will change things. It's only really been the Power Rangers who have dealt with aliens until now. And everyone knows who we are now. That's going to make a difference too."

Andros shrugged slightly. "You all seem to adapt pretty well. Besides, most planets know who their Ranger teams are."

She bit her lip, thinking about just what a mess there was at home and just what came with it. Ashley hadn't really thought about what might happen after Dark Specter was defeated before. It had always seemed so far off. But now the future was before her, and Ashley found that what she had always planned didn't really match up with what she wanted any more. Yes, she was still interested in fashion design, but she had seen so much of the universe now, and confining herself just to that didn't seem like enough. She would have to finish high school. That was not negotiable.

But afterwards was up in the air now. Ashley knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Andros. What she didn't know is if that life would be on Earth, KO-35, or some place else entirely. Sooner or later, she was going to have to figure out exactly what she wanted from her future, and it was probably a good idea if it was sooner.

"So," Zhane's voice pulled her from her thoughts, "do you think that there's still some place in Angel Grove that we could get a good pizza? I'm craving something that's not from the synthatron."

Karone tilted her head. "What's pizza?"

Ashley laughed. They were going to have fun introducing Karone to life on Earth. And whatever the future brought, she wasn't going to face it alone.

Earth to Mirinoi

There were days when Ashley wanted to strangle her boyfriend. Despite all they had gone through, there were still time when Andros seemed to forget that he wasn't one his own anymore and dashed off to deal with some sort of problem on his own. And he almost always got himself into trouble when he did it. So once again they were off to save Andros. Or at least give him a hand in the fight.

In a lot of ways it was good to be back in action again. Part of Ashley had missed this. She had spent the last year finishing up high school and trying to figure out her future plans. Right now it was looking like after graduation she would be returning to KO-35. Ashley knew that she didn't really want to make a career out of fashion design anymore, and she couldn't really think of another career that would suit her. However, KO-35 could use another set of hands, and Ashley would be with the people she cared about. And she would have a chance to figure out who she was without having all of the baggage of being one of the Power Rangers that saved Earth hanging over her head.

Besides, her time as a Ranger had given her a chance to see more than just the world she was used to, and Ashley had to admit that she had found she had a bit of wanderlust. Her parents had taken her plans fairly well thankfully. They weren't exactly happy about the distance, but at least she would be able to visit them and communicate with them on a fairly regular basis. And admittedly, her parents were a little happier with the idea of Ashley being some sort of interstellar traveler and colonist than her trying to make a living as a fashion designer.

Of course, all of this was assuming that Andros hadn't managed to get himself killed running around trying to deal with a problem on his own. Ashley sighed. She loved the man, but honestly, he drove her up the wall at times. Cassie shot her a glance.

"Didn't we break Andros of the habit of running off on his own?"

Ashley just laughed. "You do remember that this is Andros that we're talking about? It's not like it should be a surprise."

Cassie shook her head. "How did we both end up with alien boyfriends who run off to save the day?"

The two women shared a look before both bursting into giggles. Still, Ashley managed to gasp out.

"I think it comes with the job description."

Mirinoi to Earth

Andros pressed a kiss to Ashley's hair. His girlfriend was asleep. She'd nodded off about an hour ago, and he was content to let her sleep. It had been rather crazy, but the Psychos were out of commission and things were mostly right with the universe again. The Lost Galaxy Rangers would probably have their hands full for a while, but Andros didn't doubt that they would manage just fine. Though he had to admit that at least part of him had wanted to stay and join in on their fight. Somehow, fighting monsters and aliens on a regular basis seemed like a better deal than dealing with diplomacy.

He'd had his hands full with that for the past year or so. With KO-35 rebuilding and trying to regain its place in the galaxy, Karone adjusting to not being evil and finding her own place, and with Earth beginning to make its first real forays into interacting with the rest of the galaxy, Andros had been busy. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd ended up being almost solely responsible for integrating Earth into the rest of the galaxy. Ashley, Cassie, and Carlos were all helping by being traveling ambassadors of sorts, or at least they would be now that they were done with high school, while T.J. was acting as the at home ambassador who people met with when they visited Earth.

They were all very good at it, and they had learned quite a bit during their time as Space Rangers. Still, there were any number of things they had never encountered during the search for Zordon, and Andros found himself mentoring them. He didn't really mind actually, it was just there were days when it felt like he was being pulled in sixty different directions. And he had to admit that he especially resented when his work pulled him away from Ashley. They had managed to spend most of their time in the same area of the universe for the most part, but Zhane claimed that he got grumpy when separated from Ashley for more than a week.

It was probably true. Somewhere along their journey, Ash had become essential to him. He really didn't know what he'd do without her in his life. In the seat across from them, Carlos rolled his eyes.

"Get some sleep, Andros. You look exhausted. You've been at this longer than we have."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Wake me when we get home."

Though strictly speaking, he was already there. Home was wherever Ashley was.

Earth to KO-35

"I think Zhane is going crazy," Ashley confided in him.

Andros smiled. "And this is different from normal how?"

His girlfriend rolled her eyes at him. "He does know that Karone isn't going to be gone forever, right? And that this is something she needs to do for herself?"

He sighed. To be completely honest, he wasn't entirely thrilled about the idea of his little sister (all right, only younger by fifteen minutes) running off to another galaxy to be a Power Ranger, but he understood why she felt she needed to. Zhane understood that too. He just didn't really like it. He and Karone had been pretty inseparable since the Z-wave, and while Andros was not entirely sure if they were dating or not, he did know that Karone was as important to Zhane as she was to Andros.

"He knows. He's just frustrated since he can't just go and join her. We both agreed that Karone needs to do this on her own. But he doesn't have a project to distract him from the fact that she's gone yet.'

Ashley arched an eyebrow at him. "Yet?"

Andros just smiled. "Well, we are going to need a new ship, and Zhane's always been interested in ship design. Building a new Megaship should keep him busy for awhile."

"Then what?"

"And then we'll see where things stand. It will take at least a year or two to get a new Megaship built and up and running. Who knows what will be going on by then? Besides," Andros smiled at her, "I can't say that I mind the fact that my brother's courtship of my baby sister isn't quite smooth. It will be good for both of them to do the long distance thing for awhile."

"You do realize that she's only fifteen minutes younger than you are?"

He leaned in and kissed her nose. "It's the principal of the thing. So, how did your parents take the news that you're moving to another planet."

"I think they would have preferred me going to collage instead, but since I've started getting phone calls from foreign officials at home, they're not complaining too much about my career path.

KO-35 to Earth's Moon

Andros was not particularly happy about this mission for several reasons. The main one being he really didn't like doing it on his own. He would have much preferred to bring someone along with him, but he had his orders, and to be honest, right at this moment, it might be hard to get a hold of someone. Carlos was on Aquitar working on a series of trading agreements. Zhane and Karone were on their honeymoon. T.J. was in the middle of his college finals last he heard. And Ashley was helping Cassie and the Phantom Ranger move into their new home.

And really, that was what was bothering him the most. He had only been able to leave Ash a message before going off on this mission, not be able to talk to her in person. It wasn't exactly the best way to leave for a possibly life threatening mission. Plus Ash had been involved with the legwork on this one as had a number of the others. But Tommy had decided that this would be an all Red Ranger mission, and Andros wasn't going to argue with his leadership yet. He still reserved the right to call in every favor necessary if this needed to be more than just a small team mission.

There would have been a time when he wouldn't have thought twice about running off on his own on a dangerous mission. That was long gone at this point. Besides, if he tried that now, not only would his wife kill him, but so would his sister and his brother-in-law. He would have preferred that all three of them were here with him, or even just available for backup. Andros had now doubt that the team of former Rangers that Tommy was putting together was competent and would do a good job, but he missed working with his own team.

Even if they had all gone their own ways after that mission with the Lost Galaxy Rangers, the Space Rangers and their significant others has stayed in fairly close contact. The last time they had all managed to get together had been Zhane and Karone's wedding on KO-35 just last month. It had been good to see everyone again and catch up. Andros sighed and tried to refocus. He had a mission to complete and being distracted wouldn't help. Hopefully, they could wrap this up quickly, and he could go home.

Earth's Moon to Earth

Andros had the sinking feeling that it was going to be a long mission. It was always a little awkward when you were first putting a team together, and in this case, the team consisted of rather stubborn individuals who were pretty much used to being in charge. And given that while some of them had worked with one another while others barely knew one another, there would probably be some interesting dynamics.

But at the very least, they all had the bond of being a Red Ranger, and every one did seem to respect Tommy, so hopefully, things would go fairly smoothly. Ash would probably tell him to stop being such a worrywart, and it would be good to work with Leo again. Andros knew several of the other Red Rangers as well through Ash and the others. Whatever else this mission would be it would be memorable. And it would be a pretty good shake down cruise for the new Megaship.

Though he had to admit, it felt wrong to be walking the corridors of the Megaship alone. He had become so used to sharing this space with his team and then with Zhane, Karone, and Ashley. This might not be the exact same ship that the Space Rangers had started out with, but it still very much felt like home to Andros. Now that they have got the new Megaship up and running, he was going to have to see about taking a few trips and visiting friends when this mission was over. They had been a bit limited in their transportation before.

As he prepares to land on Earth, Andros can't help but think that he's come full circle in a number of ways. The first time he had come to Earth, he had been unsure both of the planet itself and his fellow Rangers, and he had not truly cared about Earth's fate other than its role in keeping Dark Spector from taking over. Now he was heading back to Earth in order to protect it and had a very personal stake in keeping it safe. Furthermore, he knew with out a doubt that he had allies there he could count on in a fight.

Earth to Earth's Moon

The Megaship practically hummed with energy. With the array of Red Rangers on board and everyone pumped up for the coming battle, the tension was palpable. Andros found himself kept busy with helping the other Rangers navigate around the ship and brief them on what he knew. The newest Red Ranger, Cole, was rather wet behind the ears, but the kid seemed all right. Andros shook his head at that thought. He was not even the oldest of the Rangers present. Both Tommy and Jason were older than he was even if it was a toss up with who had actually been a Power Ranger longer. Of course, thanks to Dark Spector, Andros had become a Ranger around the same time or slightly earlier than they had, but as far as things counted with the rest of the Rangers from Earth, it had not counted until he had joined a team from Earth.

Even so, Andros couldn't help but feel a little bit old. Wes, Eric, and Carter all seemed like they had good heads on their shoulder and knew what they were doing. Really, at some point they did need to put together that Ranger reunion Ashley and Kim kept talking about arranging. It would be nice to get to know other Rangers without threats to the universe looming over their heads. When this was over with, he'd mention it to Ashley.

But really, most of all of their time was spent preparing for the battle that was coming. It wasn't going to be easy, but then nothing really worthwhile ever was. This was a historic event really, in all of the history of the Power Rangers, Andros did not think that there had ever been a team made solely of Red Rangers before. And while they might not know one another well, they were united in purpose. No matter what else evil might try, it never seemed to realize that threatening all of Earth (or the universe in general) was a great way to bring people together against it.

Earth's Moon to Earth Again

Once again the Power Rangers had been victorious, the universe was safe, and Andros was exhausted. Exhaustion was a small price to pay though. Serpentera was no longer a threat to Earth, and the Red Rangers were heading home. A normal day's work all in all. Well, maybe not a normal day, even by Power Ranger standards. But all in all, it had been a good one.

Of course, they were all running on exhaustion and an adrenaline high at this point. Andros would be glad when he could drop everyone else off and go home. He could use a at least twenty-four hours of sleep. His fellow rangers seemed to agree. Everyone was in high spirits, but it was easy to see the exhaustion pressing down on everyone. Despite that though, the team laughed and joked as they made their goodbyes.

Tommy would the first to disappear which wasn't that surprising. Andros knew that he was probably anxious to get back to Kim. Their renewed relationship was still in the early stages, and Andros had no doubt that she probably was not happy about the fact that her boyfriend had needed to run off to save the world without her. None of the rangers that Andros knew liked it when their teammates had to face a battle without them, even when there weren't romantic entanglements involved. Andros had more than once been told off for running off on his own to deal with a problem.

He let out a sigh of relief when the Megaship set down. Andros was more than ready to go home.

Earth to Home

He hadn't meant to fall asleep almost as soon as everyone else had gone. It had just happened. Andros had seen his fellow Red Rangers off and then had come back to the Megaship. His intention had just been it sit down for a moment or two before prepping the ship to head back to KO-35. What had happened was that he fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down.

Andros woke with a crick in his neck and now idea how long he'd been out. He blinked trying to get his brain functioning again. Soft laughter made him start and nearly fall out of the chair he was sitting in.

"Sleeping beauty awakens," Ashley teased.

"Ash?" He wasn't quite believing his eyes.

His wife grinned at him. "Hey. Feeling better? You looked like you needed that nap."

"What are you doing here?"

"I got your message and decided to have Phantom drop me off here rather than KO-35. Given that the planet is still here, I take things went well?"

He smiled. "Yes. Serpentera is no longer a threat, and everyone else is on their way home."

"Good. That means we can go home." Ashley slipped in to his lap, resting her head against his. "I think we've spent enough time creeping around the galaxy working on this mission."

Andros just kissed her cheek. He didn't really need to go anywhere at the moment. He was home as long as Ashley was here with him.


End file.
